bennison@tools.DEC (Victor Bennison - DTN 381-2156) (06/17/85)
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Maude,
I couldn't tell from your letter exactly want you want to do in the
way of genealogical research, whether you are just interested in that one
line of Ridgefield Scott's or want to get into tracing all your ancestral
lines or what. At any rate I'll give you some general suggestions for
getting started. I think I'll post this to net.roots also, as there may
be others interested in getting started as well.
1. Get all the information you can from living relatives, NOW!
They can usually get you back three or four generations and have
some information (photos, anecdotes, etc.) that you just won't
find anywhere else. You may get some inaccurate information from
them, but you can sort that out later. Keep pestering them with
questions. After a couple of years of my grandmother's telling me
she didn't know anything else, she one day brought down a box from
the attic filled with old documents (wills from the 1700's), old
family daguerratypes from the 1850's, and a pair of my great-grand-
mother's spectacles. She gave the treasure trove to me. I have
made tape recorded interviews with all my living relatives. Very
interesting stuff has come out of these as well (the goose-bump-
raising details of my grandmother's premonition of my grandfather's
death by drowning at age 29 for example, something I'd never heard
before). Don't wait, tomorrow's too late.
2. Most local libraries will have some how-to books on genealogy. Some
are better than others. Just grab a handfull. One book you should
get is the "Handy Book for Genealogists" by Everton Publishing. Write
to them for a catalog of genealogical related items. They have an
extensive line of books, forms, equipment, etc. Their address is
Everton Publishers
P.O. Box 368
Logan, Utah 84321
3. The Morman Church is the single largest repository of genealogical
information in the world. This is because family ancestry has a major
role to play in their religion. They encourage everyone to research
their roots. Their libraries are open to everyone. I have been using
them for years. I have never felt out of place for not being a Morman.
Their central library is in Salt Lake City. They have branch libraries
everywhere, in their local churches. Call the nearest Morman chruch and
find out where the branch library nearest you is located. Also find
out what it's hours are. Most of them have just evening hours a couple
of days a week and some Saturday hours. The volunteer staff will try
hel you get started, though sometimes they aren't very experienced.
Most of the branch libraries have the IGI (Internation Genealogical
Index) on microfiche. It lists millions of vital records from all over
the world, but is very strong on the U.S. and England. All branch
libraries have microfilm copies of the card catalog of the central
library in Salt Lake City. You can order, for a small fee, anything
in the central library that is on microfilm. This includes most of the
vital records. Many branches now have the AIS microfiches. These are
a set of indices to U.S. Censuses.
4. There are a number of libraries in the country with good genealogical
departments. The closest one to you is probably the New York City
Public Library. The Connecticut State Library in Hartford sounds like
a good place for you to look. According to the Handy Book for
Genealogists it contains indexed vital records for Connecticut towns,
indexed cemetery inscriptions and indexed marriage and death notices
from Connecticut newspapers. Hartford also is home to the Connecticut
Society (I don't know if they have a library) and a Morman branch
library.
5. Census records are another major source of information. There are
Federal Archive branch offices scattered throughout the country. I
don't have a list. There is one in Waltham, Mass., that I use, and
I'm sure there must be one near New York City. The branch offices
have microfilm copies of all the censuses that are available to
researchers. That is 1790 - 1910. The censuses before 1850 are
not as useful as the subsequent ones because they do not list the
individuals in the family except for the head of the household and
do not list family members' exact ages, only ranges. The branch
archive offices usually have a collection of published indexes for
the censuses. There are indexes for many states for the censuses
between 1790 and 1850. Few indices exist for the 1860 census. The
1870 census was largely destroyed by fire. The 1880 - 1910 censuses
are indexed.
6. There are two important mistakes that beginning researchers make and
usually regret. The first is not keeping citations:
WRITE DOWN COMPLETE CITATIONS FOR REFERENCES YOU FIND. I.e.,
if you find the name of an ancestor's wife in some county
history, then make a note of the name, author, and page number
of the book where you found it. This is very important for a
number of reasons. For example, you may very well want to go
back to the book sometime and see if there isn't additional
information you missed. Also, other researchers who come after
you will want to be able to verify how accurate is the
information you have gathered. I frequently xerox the
frontispiece of a book when I xerox pages from it.
The second is using the wrong forms:
USE FAMILY GROUP SHEETS. These are forms for collecting the
information about one family, i.e., a father, mother and their
children. Many beginners use pedigree charts at first (I did).
But the information on the brothers and sisters of your
ancestors will prove to be crucial to your research. When you
ask who your great-grandfather was, ask for the same information
about his brothers and sisters. In enumerable instances,
having such information has meant the difference between finding
and not finding a lost ancestor. I posted a form to net.roots,
but I will mail one to you separately in case you didn't see
it.
Well, I hope that is enough to get you started. If you have any questions
I will try to answer them. And you can always post your questions to the
net. Good hunting.
Vick Bennison
...decvax!decwrl!rhea!turtle!bennison
(603) 881-2156apt@inmet.UUCP (06/24/85)
Could you post a form to the net? I'm sure there are others who
would like to see it.
Thanks,
Alan Taylor
...harpo!inmet!apt
...hplabs!sri-unix!cca!ima!inmet!apt
...yale-comix!ima!inmet!apt